At what age or point in development is speech delay a concern?
DS2 is 19 months and says no words at all. But from an early age he started using hand signs or gestures to show me what he wanted. I didn't really encourage it, instead i'd say the words for what he wanted, though i did respond to them. Examples are; opening and closing his hand for what he wants, laying a flat palm when he wants his hand wiped, nodding for yes, shaking head for no, waving, pointing. Now he does other things like getting a nappy when he wants to be changed or giving me the remote control if he wants to watch a dvd. He clearly understands everything because he follows all our instructions, eg; put your cup on the blue table, we're going out now (he'll go and get his shoes). He also does a lot on his own accord such as bringing an empty plate to the kitchen, putting toys away or getting things. He just does not respond with words, i'll ask if he wants more or likes something and he'll nod or shake his head. For the past few months we've made more of an effort to speak clearly and state words when he makes the signs but he just doesn't seem interested in speaking. The only sounds he makes are "ahh" and "ba", other than that he's pretty much silent, though he is constantly doing something, playing, exploring, he's never really still, very different from DS1, who spoke early and is still a talker rather than a doer.
Doing some research he seems behind for his age as opposed to actually saying words but intelligence wise on track because of the understanding and follow through. I have tried over exaggerating the mouth movements for basic words "mum", "dad", "milk", "water", but he just laughs. He doesn't try to imitate me, he also isn't concerned about the words because he gets whatever he needs by non verbal communication. We are wondering if he's lazy as in not having to talk or whether this is something we should start looking at.
He's 19 months, should i wait a while longer or take him to the GP? a specialist?
Oh you could have been describing my son 2 months ago..
At 18 months I was extremely worried about his speech and like your DS he understood everything and followed instructions (even in Italian) but just would not talk - he would gibber gabber but not say words.
I got a referal to see a SP (he was 18 months) and no sooner had I made an appointment he started coming out with all sorts of words: purple, orange, head, tractor, plane, cow, bottle, water, cruskit, bike, please, tree, boat, pawpaw, apple... he won't shut up! He is just shy of 20 months now and has 3 words sentences - in the space of 8 weeks he has come so far, and yes I do think my DS was just lazy!
In saying that, I think there is nothing better than peace of mind and instinctively you know your child best and what he is capable of.. make an appointment, it can't hurt!
I have a cousin who is the same, although he has just turned 3. He would only say 'bah' as the older children would always talk for him. However we have noticed that since his sister started going to pre-school 2 days a week, he is speaking a lot more.
Most of the family are saying that he needs to see a specialist, and I think his parents have taken him to one, but there was no real concern, and his parent's are concerned as he is communicating a lot more now. I think you will know what is best for your child.
As an added note - my mother didn't talk til she was 7 and had to do speech therapy to learn to talk... she hasn't kept her mouth shut since (not being mean to my mum, it is a running joke in the family )
My #1 was much like that. My thinking is to mention it to your MCHN (if you have a good one, otherwise your doctor) and see what they think. Our MCHN gave us a referral for a hearing test and speech therapy - something good to remember is that speech therapy waiting lists can be around 6 months if you go public, so even if you book speech therapy now and don't need it in 4 months, that's better than needing it in 6 months time and having to wait another 6 months. xo
DS1 is 19 months also, the same he says mumma and dadda and bubba but that is all, pead had given us a hearing test referal and suggested we may need speech pathology.
He is not fantastic at following instructions but I think it is more laziness and being cheeky.
At 18 months they are supposed to have a minimum of 5 words. DS only had 4 words so MCHN packed him off for a hearing test which came back fine.
I took him to a private speech pathologist for an assessment which was very reassuring in terms of discovering that his understanding was perfect for his age, but for whatever reason he wasn't communicating back. I hadn't been worried but the MCHN was and I couldn't stand the wait, she'd made me paranoid.
The speechie gave me some exercises to do with him which basically involved trying for a minimum of half an hour a day to only speak to him in one and two word sentences eg "Milk? Want milk?" to try and encourage him to repeat back to me. She did warn me not to overdo it, I would drive myself nuts LOL.
DS at first looked at me like I was an idiot and then got frustrated and angry. He knew exactly what I wanted him to do and would either get embarrassed or cross, so I decided to relax on that part and I would wait and see how he was at the age of 2.
However, there were other tactics that he had a better response to. If he pointed to a bird I would just say "bird" not "oh, look there's a bird!" And if he pointed to a picture in a book then repeat that one word a couple of times. If I got no verbal response in 10 seconds, then carry on. If he did give a verbal response, even if it was just "uh", to encourage that I would say "yes, bird!". 10 seconds is quite a long time to wait but it was interesting to do so, most of the time I found he would make a verbal noise.
The other thing of course is books, books and more books, preferably with him being able to see your face and the book so he can see how your mouth forms words. And if you play on the floor with him, follow his lead, see what he points to, what he is interested in.
All of a sudden, about 2 months before he turned 2, he had what they call a "word spurt" and it all came all at once. So in the end he was just a bit late to start and hadn't really needed speech therapy.
I do believe that concentrating on a couple of words and emphasising them did help a bit though, I was talking to him in the most part in a fairly adult way, which he understood perfectly but had no hope of imitating at that age. It's all worked out fine though because he does have a very mature vocabulary and speech pattern at the age of 3 which quite tickles people to listen to. "Actually, I think I might just go and play cars right now" for instance.
I recommend you go ahead with a hearing test and put your name down for speech therapy. Better to get onto these things asap - you can always cancel the appointment if you decide you don't need it anymore by the time it comes up. The hearing test in particular is very easy and such a simple thing to take out of the equation, at the very least go ahead and do that.
Our DD2 was the same. She didn't have many words, but her understanding and comprehension was outstanding, so there wasn't a problem there, she just wasn't verbalising with words. She started seeing a speechie at 4yrs 3mths and we had the referral put in when she had just turned 4. A lot of her issues could have been age-related so that's why we weren't overly concerned and your DS's problems could be age related too, but I honestly think that earlier is better and if I had my time again I would have taken her sooner because even though she was saying a lot of words by then, her articulation was appalling. There could also be other issues that could be responsible for the speech delay as well. By his age he *should* have between 10 - 50 words but like anything when it comes to child development some will have more and some a lot less so there is a big scope for a normal range. Plus waiting lists can be very long and it is best if you get him onto a waiting list at least and have him assessed and if they think he is fine, but a little bit behind, then so be it, but they could also pick up that there is a problem and you have plenty of time before he starts school to work on it.
Wait a little longer! My DD1 was EXACTLY the same. I posted pretty much the same thread as you 7 months ago. My DD1 at age 2 had a word explosion and now at 27 months says five word sentences. At 19 months, she had about two words but lots of expressions and gestures etc. I had everyone telling me to wait until age 2. Definitely wait a little bit. The main thing is, he understands you and does communicate
Jaidan did baby sign and didn't really talk until he was 2.5, he had a couple of words before then but that's when it all clicked. He understood everything I was saying, so I knew it wasn't hearing or smarts. He's fine now at 6.
The 'normal' range is 6 words aside from mum and dad, that YOU can understand. Does he say anything at all?
I've only had a quick skim of the replies, so sorry if my reply is a bit off track.
I just wanted to say that his gesturing isn't a bad thing.. and I personally wouldn't be discouraging it. If you read up on baby sign language and the benefits of it, you might find it a great way to help him start communicating. And it's shown to actually help them verbalise sooner. I found it really interesting how it aids the process.
I signed with both my kids.. they both signed back from about 12 months old.. and they both had a verbal word explosion around 19 or 20 months and it just went great guns from there. I wasn't concerned up to that point because we were already communicating.
Anyway, I just wanted to mention about the sign language. I don't know anything much about when delay becomes a concern, but it looks like you've received some great advice
The government has set up a program called the 'enhanced primary care plan'. It allows you to recieve a Medicare rebate for up to 5 allied health sessions (speech pathology, occupational therapy, physio, etc) per year. The rebate is roughly 50 bucks. Technically it is supposed to be for children who require multiple services however I have seen it been given to children who just need one service. It is organised through your GP so it's worth asking them about it, if they won't don't it it's worth trying another GP.
Yep i've used the care plan myself, its a really good scheme. Especially considering we've hit the safety net, so it costs next to nothing with the rebate.
I will ring around the private speech pathologists and see how much they charge and which ones will liase with the gp to organise the care plan, i know its a bit of paperwork.
When is speech delay a concern?
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